Virtual Races Give Marathoners a Chance to Compete on Their Own

Each August, in normal times, about 13,000 people run 7 miles up the Massachusetts coastline as part of the Falmouth Road Race. To kick off this year’s event, my wife held a watch in the air and yelled, “Go!” I took off running down a narrow trail where we live—in Munich. I’d always been skeptical of virtual races, which allow runners to participate from afar. Why pay someone a registration fee to run around your own neighborhood?

Dave McGillivray was skeptical, too. A race director for four decades, he stages annual competitions including Falmouth and the Boston Marathon. This was supposed to be his biggest year yet, with 35 events across the U.S. At age 66 he’d begun to consider selling his company, DMSE Sports, and retiring. “Then along came this pandemic,” he says. “It really fried this business.”